{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Jules Feiffer The Man In The Ceiling","description":"The Man In The Ceiling, book by Jules Feiffer, Music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, and directed by Jeffrey Seller, producer of Hamilton, will run May 30-June 25, 2017 at The Bay Street Theater. In his new theatrical adaptation of his graphic novel \u201cThe Man in the Ceiling,\u201d opening the 2017 Main Stage season at Bay Street Theatre May 30, he wants the audience \u201cto feel they\u2019ve been dragged up onstage\u201d and are part of the action. \u201cYes! I want you to experience what I am doing in the present tense! That\u2019s the way it\u2019s always been in whatever medium I\u2019m using,\u201d he says. \u201cIt took over 50 years for me to learn to leave my work alone, and not to try and control everything. To be a lack of control freak. Or a loss of control freak.\u201d \u201cThe Man In The Ceiling\u201d was first published as a graphic novel in 1993. Both the book and the play, directed by Jeffrey Seller, deal with failure, mostly creative failure, centered around two characters \u2014 Jimmy, a boy who only wants to draw cartoons whose father is displeased by his ambition, and his Uncle Lester who lives upstairs and writes \u201cflop musicals.\u201d \u201c \u2018As Jimmy saw it, he had no other choice but to grow up to be a great cartoonist. Only that would make up for the awful burden he bore in the present. Because, in every way that counted, Jimmy was a flop as a boy.\u2019 \u201d \u201cThis passage is completely autobiographical,\u201d he tells me, \u201ccompletely true of me as a kid! My eyes had different mis-matched sighting, so I couldn\u2019t catch or throw a ball. All the skills you need as a kid growing up during the depression without any money are athletic.\u201d \u201cThe Man In The Ceiling\u201d in its new form has been a long time in the works. Seventeen years ago, Andrew Lippa contacted Mr. Feiffer about writing music and lyrics and hopefully collaborating on turning the book into a musical. They had a brief encounter with Disney, who sponsored a reading of the first iteration of the play, but a film was never made. A few years ago Mr. Lippa brought Jeffrey Seller on board to direct. Mr. Feiffer says the chemistry has been magical. \u201cThis is a play about how you deal with yourself as a human and your self as an artist when the results aren\u2019t what they\u2019re supposed to be in the world you live in \u2014 where if it\u2019s not a commercial success then it\u2019s no good,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s putting together a life that is going to make your adult life livable, despite the fact that you\u2019re not doing it by the rules of the people that seem to count, namely everyone else but you!\u201d After a career of more than 70 years, Jules Feiffer is busier than ever. \u201cAs I\u2019m getting older, I\u2019m doing more work,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it\u2019s not because I feel time is running out \u2014 I mean time is obviously running out \u2014 but I\u2019m just having more fun! One of the nice things about age is that you come to terms with how stupid you are. In your 20s and 30s and 40s, there\u2019s the pride of hopefully being smarter than anyone else. But after a while, that stops being important and you gravitate toward the things that really count, or you should be able to. Not everyone can do that. I\u2019m doing more because I\u2019m having a better time!\u201d","author_name":"Phantom Hampton Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/phantomhampton.libsyn.com","html":"